Shirt.Woot

there may not be much call for these, but as a woman who's been pregnant twice, and will be again in the near future, i'd like to see maternity shirts in the side sale occasionally. i don't know if that's an option or not, but it would be awesome to still be able to wear woot shirts when the belly is big.

as for favorite designs, i've seen three on teetrade that i would absolutely love to see revisited.

5 second rule
in the library with the wrench
quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog

i'm sure there are a million more, but with shirt.what? changing servers, i can't currently see all the past shirts.

ooh, tank tops would be awesome, too. i live in texas, so i spend a lot of time during the summer in a tank.

ok, i'll stop and let someone else have a turn.

I've said it before and I say it again, I would love to see Ink-topus; however, only if it could be put on the AA short sleeved shirts.

In fact while we are on the topic would it be possible to keep all the side sale shirts on AA? It would be amazing, I would pay extra for it.

Positives: Love the different weekly themes.

Negatives: I think each design should be offered in as many formats as possible, I always see comments like, "I would have bought X if it was a Y".

Would it be possible to make a shopping cart for the side sales? I know woot does not have one normally, but it would encourage people to fill the cart knowing their order would come in all at once.

I'm still fairly new to shirt.woot! so I haven't seen many of the side sales. What I have seen of them, though, I like. I like that they have a theme, but I REALLY like that they revive old shirts (or in this week's case, shirts that didn't make it into the top 3 in derby) so I have a chance to buy shirts I've missed out on. It's always a surprise to see what's in the side sale and I look forward to that as much as I look forward to seeing what kind of design will be printed day after day.

The one thing I don't like about the side sale is that the designs aren't available on each type of shirt/tote/poster/etc. I think that all of the designs in the sale should be available on all of the items they could be printed on. There have been a couple of designs in the past that were featured for the tote or hoodie that I would have loved to have on a t-shirt, but they didn't offer it on the t-shirt. If this could be changed, it would make the side sales even better.

I think I suggested this to Barbara, but I think it'd be neat to see a few artists redo their first Woot prints for a side sale. Maybe they'd just change some of the colors, maybe they'd decide to redo the entire design and just keep the concept. It's neat when you look through the work of some of the long-time derby artists and see how much their work has changed.

...and how cool would it be to see a really b*tchin' Dragontine's Day redux. ;)

Just wore my Squeeze hoodie out in the universe today; it's been nice to have the not just a short sleeve t option. I still think a hat would be fun. For regular t-shirts, I've been picking up a few designs that happened before I started wooting so anything that dips back into things I haven't seen yet is of interest. And possibly changing colors/reworking things intrigues.

BootsBoots wrote:I think it'd be neat to see a few artists redo their first Woot prints for a side sale.

I agree. I think it would be great to see some remixed designs again.

Also, since there are usually several mediums available during side sales (i.e. Hoodies, Long Sleeves, etc) I think it would be great to incorporate the design into the new medium. For example, on Long Sleeve Tees, use a fragment of the design on the sleeve and have the full design on the front. Or on Pullover Hoodies, place part of the designs on the pockets or hood.

I don't know. Just my thoughts.

tgentry wrote:Not cool at all.

It's a challenge! A lofty challenge.

tgentry wrote:I know I have plenty of designs that I wish I had done differently.

Me too. Sometimes I look at things I've done years ago, and I'm horrified. That's what gave me the idea.

tgentry wrote:Hey guys,

So we've been running these side sales for a few months now... I'm curious about what you guys think about them? Positives? Negatives? What's your favorite product we've run, or one we should have run but didn't? Any suggestions for future sales or designs you're dying to see again? Are you staying up on Sunday night, waiting for the email announcement, or do you not even know what a side sale is? It's all useful feedback, so let me know! Just keep it directly related to the side sales, please. Thanks!

I like the opportunity to get older designs that are not currently in print. Put the T-shirts on non-Anvil T's and I'll buy.

I also think you need to do a better job of offering all apparel in sizes that fit kids and smaller women. For example, the v-necks, hoodies, and long sleeves are unisex/adult male sizing. The Anvil T's don't really fit thinner or smaller women.

I really like that posters are being offered.

I think my biggest problem with the side sales is that there have been many times when I meant to buy items "in a few days" and forget until the weekly is over. There have been at least a half dozen times this has happened. The other problem ties into what I mentioned before...there are items that I would have bought for my kids and didn't because there were not small enough options or that I passed over because they're on the Anvil blanks.


And I'll second what was mentioned above...I'd love to see designs (maybe fewer per week if needed) offered on multiple formats each week. There's been more than a few that I would have bought if it were on a tote instead of a T or a zip hoodie instead of pullover, etc. Also, I don't really love that the long sleeves are cuffed. I'd like to see an additional no cuff option (like long sleeved t's that are common in women's fashion).

(6 am edit)

The good ...
- ... or bad, depending on who's perspective, is that Woot has gotten more of my money than they would have otherwise. Folks have wondered in the past about "sitting on the rights" to the 1000+ designs ... so it's nice that they are being put back into use.

- Except for the current event, the commission structure to the artists wasn't compromised in the alternate offerings. Without the art, it's just a blank shirt ... and we know how well Green Space sold, right? For the current event, it seems reasonable to me, though I honestly haven't looked any further than what was said in the discussion thread.

The not so good ...
- Quality Control. It's twice now on just personally; the first was the back print on TCIAL and most recently, Spring-ATRON; three times if you count Forbidden Future too. I'm not sure if it's a different crew or equipment, but proportionally to the 100+ "regular run" shirts I've bought, it's a bad defect rate especially considering the number sold/printed too. The replacement TCIAL was the same, which suggest to me that it was when they burned the screen. Likewise, the bleeding of the black for Spring-ATRON (which I haven't written to service about yet) is either the ink or the screen burn, as my copy wasn't the only fuzzy one.

For the regular runs, I've only had two issues before - a seriously off angle print and a missing shipment. Minor registration issues, I've let pass. Defective blanks, zero.

- The shipping problems of the Holiday sales have largely been resolved, so I think at least that aspect has been well sorted out.

- My perspective has been quite clear on the shirt blanks, so I won't get into that here.

Other thoughts
- Any way to include the banner with the reckoning page too or the order screen, like a "but wait there's more!" sort of thing? It doesn't seem like everyone is catching it from the front page or from the email links.

- I know there's a slight difference in setup between printing on 50/50 fleece vs. 100% cotton, but since the screens are burned already (aka fixed setup costs), how hard would it be to offer t-shirts, long sleeve, hoodies, apron, and tote options for every design up for the event? Maximize the buyer's options, maximize Woot's revenue.

- Delay the ship-out date if need be - don't put the printing department in a bind if they can't crank out as many varieties in the current time frame. Rushing is where the QC issue occur.

- Holy Guacamole, Fresh Cake, and You Are What You Eat ... reprints on AA, please?

BootsBoots wrote:I think I suggested this to Barbara, but I think it'd be neat to see a few artists redo their first Woot prints for a side sale.

I would loooooooove to redo Xtreme National Park. :D The original came out funky in many ways because I didn't understand the printing process here as well. I would love to fix the complaints folks had and turn the bear into a better tee. :D

As for side sale feedback, there's a few things I can note about them:

It does seem that getting people to notice the side sales is tough. A lot of people dont see them going on at all. You pretty well have to hit people over the head with a huge advertisement to get them to see things. That is true of any site or whatnot. Maybe a much bigger presence on the front page? I like the big graphic that shows up during the Woot.off Reckoning sale. Perhaps something like that would work to drive people to the side area.

I also think maybe doing them less frequently would help. Right now the side sales are competing with the daily shirts and the derby shirts, not to mention Woot as a whole. The economy is still in recovery mode, so people can't afford to splurge on a lot, every week.

Also Boots' idea of doing some designs that are totally new would be interesting. Mostly the side sales have been previous designs. I think this is awesome for holidays or special events, but when it comes out of nowhere, it's less likely to strike a chord with people. If you offer something brand new or surprising, it may be more tempting

Overall it's been great to see so many awesome designs for sale on different products.

I like seeing the side sales, but I haven't bought much from one yet. Just not lots that I had to have...I keep looking.

I like the totes and the aprons best.


Other topics: Would be awesome to see a side sale of collabs from the artists.

elankat wrote:
I also think you need to do a better job of offering all apparel in sizes that fit kids and smaller women. For example, the v-necks, hoodies, and long sleeves are unisex/adult male sizing. The Anvil T's don't really fit thinner or smaller women.

This, too. I don't buy many t-shirt these days (because I have so many), but I'd like to have some longsleeves and v necks. This would be good.

Well you never seem to choose the designs I like, you evil bastards. So from now on you should ask me to choose them. Hands up all who agree.

I like the totes, in theory, but really have no use for them. I did really like v-neck. How many side designs are in your history (percentage wise), and is a search hampered by how often the placement info was incorrect?

I love the idea of redoing old designs! That would be so much fun. Would there just be a call for artists to submit redone designs by a certain date? Either way, revamped designs sound great.

I also agree about the need for smaller apparel sizes, of course.

One critique I have about the side sales is that the banners should be brighter, bigger, or in more places on the site. I think they're easy to miss, even with the email bulletin. They just need to be more eye-catching somehow.

I know this will probably not happen, but wouldn't a "tote derby" or an "apron derby" be awesome??

Personally I haven't bought any side sale items just yet. I'm waiting for the sale that brings back a bunch of stuff I like and breaks my paypal account! I would really like to see a fairytale themed side sale. I've been trying to get "Two Queens" for the longest time and can't find anyone willing to part with it!

As for advertising, I look at it each week, so I know they're there. But honestly the only thing I might purchase is the regular tee as everything else is in mens sizes. Unless they came up with an awesome zip up hoodie... I really enjoy the partial design on the chest with the full design on the back!

Just my 2 cents

A lot of what I think has been said, so I'll do some quoting and then add my new thoughts:

"Personally I haven't bought any side sale items just yet. I'm waiting for the sale that brings back a bunch of stuff I like."

Agree. Love the concept, especially because I'm a newer shirt.wooter, but haven't found a design I love in a format I want yet.

"I think that all of the designs in the sale should be available on all of the items they could be printed on."

Agree. I'm guessing this would make life more complicated in the production world, and I would be sorry to have to sacrifice the number of design options available in a given week, but it really would be ideal. I really want Shakespeare A-Z, but when it was revived, it was only in poster form, and I just really want to wear it.

"One critique I have about the side sales is that the banners should be brighter, bigger, or in more places on the site."

Agree. I stumbled on the the first (?) side sale by accident. The home page contains a lot of data, and the slice allowed for the link over to the side is easy to just gloss over without realizing what you're seeing. It feels "off" to have a link in the middle of the page. I would have placed it at the top of the page, perhaps over on the side where the little box links to the family of woot pages are linked.

I think the hands-down best side sale so far is this week's; I'm just talking myself into a little splurge to get Walmazan's Frankenstein mice t-shirt. It feels like a real treat to have a chance to buy designs that didn't look like they were ever going to be available. As far as I'm concerned, you could do that every single week forever, and I would be thrilled.

Regarding old designs, I came too late to the party and missed Fresh Cake. Also, a friend of mine missed You Can't Catch Me; I would love to grab it for her. Perhaps you could help me out and do a dessert-themed week?

Like others have said prior, I've found myself more often than not bummed to find a design I really like only offered in a format that I don't really want. But I'm guessing it's not terribly feasible to offer all options for all designs.

Posters? Side deals? Wait.. how did I miss all of this?!?!?!

I haven't bought a woot shirt in forever, but I do check every day.

Where are these side deals, most of all the posters?

ThunderThighs wrote:You'll see a banner to the side sales on Shirt.Woot's main page as a pop-up right below the picture of the shirt for sale. This week's sale is the Mentions of Honor. Click on that to see what's for sale.

Wow! Thanks!!

I never looked at it... there is too much junk on the front page now and I never noticed.

these sales are the highlight of the week to me. every monday, i get up with 1 thing on my mind: will there be new pullovers? my fave so far is Ochopika's Makin' Bread.

most pullovers i bought i didn't care for as a tee (i get what pullovers i can...)

i also appreciate the chance to get a classic design on a tee. they're more expensive than daily shirts, but if i really want it, i get one.

long sleeve tees are nice too. sadly, it's usually too cold over here to wear just a shirt, even if it does have long sleeves.

zip-up hoodies i don't like, cause the design is on the back, and i don't expect zippers to last long.

i don't care for the other products, except perhaps the backpack, if it featured a design i really dig. but, of course, i'm not gonna buy many backpacks.

designs i'd like to make a comeback include:
- I’m Just Doing My Job
http://shirt.woot.com/friends.aspx?k=21262
- The Three Classical States of Matter
http://shirt.woot.com/friends.aspx?k=20655
- Not This Pig
http://shirt.woot.com/Derby/Entry.aspx?id=59374
- Too Much Catnip
http://shirt.woot.com/Derby/Entry.aspx?id=48352
- Sea Cats of the North Atlantic
http://shirt.woot.com/Derby/Entry.aspx?id=28680

i really like the banners, and the way they're integrated into the site.

goldenthorn wrote:And then another week of only Edgar.

YES!

I love the side sales, especially non-t-shirt options. I agree that more needs to be done to make it obvious. Would replacing "reckoning" with "shop" and putting all your current offerings on one page be so sacrilegious?

elankat wrote:I like the opportunity to get older designs that are not currently in print. Put the T-shirts on non-Anvil T's and I'll buy.

I also think you need to do a better job of offering all apparel in sizes that fit kids and smaller women. For example, the v-necks, hoodies, and long sleeves are unisex/adult male sizing. The Anvil T's don't really fit thinner or smaller women.

I really like that posters are being offered.

I think my biggest problem with the side sales is that there have been many times when I meant to buy items "in a few days" and forget until the weekly is over. There have been at least a half dozen times this has happened. The other problem ties into what I mentioned before...there are items that I would have bought for my kids and didn't because there were not small enough options or that I passed over because they're on the Anvil blanks.


And I'll second what was mentioned above...I'd love to see designs (maybe fewer per week if needed) offered on multiple formats each week. There's been more than a few that I would have bought if it were on a tote instead of a T or a zip hoodie instead of pullover, etc. Also, I don't really love that the long sleeves are cuffed. I'd like to see an additional no cuff option (like long sleeved t's that are common in women's fashion).

I second all of this.

I wonder if having them run for more than 2 weeks would help? Seems not many people notice them, so maybe having them up longer would help, give more people the chance to budget in a purchase.

Back prints - especially the old designs with lot of text would be good on the back.

Mondays have become my favorite shirt.woot day because of the side sales. Each week I look forward to seeing what is available. I'm excited at the possibility of buying shirts I missed out on, or getting a back up or replacement for shirts i love and wear all the time.

As many have said, if it's possible, please make all designs available in all formats. If that isn't feasible, how about at least making sure they are available in the original short sleeve tee format, since that is the main product of shirt.woot. There have been so many side sale items that I would have bought on a short sleeve tee, but they weren't offered.

A sale I'd like to see would be for shirts that needed color fixes or tweaks to make them even more awesome. Patriot Wings is one I'd love to see again, but it completely disappeared on the shirt after a few washes.

Also, any of the shirts that were sold before 3X was available would be good. Even though I no longer wear that size, I missed out on all those shirts because that was the size I needed at that time.

Also, please use AA blanks for these sales. Quality is important both for the blank and the printing process. I have passed on so many shirts recently and even some in the current side sale due to Anvil blanks.

Shirt.woot got me hooked on great t-shirts. I hope I can continue to be a customer. Looking forward to the future side sales. Hoping to see AA short sleeve blanks as the standard format for the side sales.

kevlar51 wrote:Like others have said prior, I've found myself more often than not bummed to find a design I really like only offered in a format that I don't really want.

This,

goldenthorn wrote:
And advertising! An email only to subscribers and a discreet, blending-in, slow-to-pop-up banner on the already-busy-and-compressed front page, while pretty, isn't enough. (There may be more, but I don't see it, which is the issue.) These sales need loads more aggressive exposure/advertising. Or at least louder colours and graphics to catch attention.

Maybe rather than making them weekly, make them bi-monthly--have each sale last for two weeks. That would provide time for exposure and consideration. Exposure so that advertising and word-of-mouth has time to work and customers have time to find out about the sale before it's done. Why two weeks: so that there's a Friday payday at least once during each sale. That would ensure that people who wait 'til payday to make purchases can actually buy from each sale. Two weeks would also give people time to think their purchase through and become comfortable with making them. This is a consideration that the daily shirts don't need but the sales definitely do because of their considerably higher price points.

Also, I want a Bake It So apron. And a week of only Robbie robots. And then another week of only Edgar.

and this,

2thFairy wrote:I never looked at it... there is too much junk on the front page now and I never noticed.

and this. Internet users are inured to flashy ads all over web sites these days, so they go unnoticed.

j5 wrote:and this. Internet users are inured to flashy ads all over web sites these days, so they go unnoticed.

mebbe they could add gurlz with large b00bage to the ad. that's what the other t-shirt sites seem to be doing.

Make it an option to be able to choose AA shirts over Anvil shirts at least for the Side Sales.

no1 wrote:mebbe they could add gurlz with large b00bage to the ad. that's what the other t-shirt sites seem to be doing.

I could get behind this.

taternuggets wrote:I could get behind this.

Wouldn't you rather be in front of this?

Suggestion:

Create whatever side sale theme you need to bring back Schrodinger's Cat.

2thFairy wrote:Wouldn't you rather be in front of this?

Can't it be both?

To get back on topic, I enjoy the side sales... hoping for some shirts from way back before I found woot.

Many great suggestions and ideas so far. My .02...

I love the side sales. I impatiently wait for 10:00 Sunday night to see what you have. But I can agree that every two weeks might be a good idea.

I love the hoodies! Keep 'em coming!

AA blanks: it seems your best side sale customers are your most loyal/regular customers. These same customers who have so loudly proclaimed their love of AA over Anvil. Give them what they want!

Theme ideas: Love letting the artists get a chance to change/tweak/improve an earlier design.

Really like holiday/seasonal themes

eeschultz wrote: Perhaps you could help me out and do a dessert-themed week?

I'd like to see a "sweets/snacks week"! There were a fair few during the anthropomorphic food week that I feel were missed out, and dessert themed week would fill in some of those gaps... Donut Panic, Fresh Cake, Misfortune, One Smart Cookie...

Some others I'd like to see in some form in my dream world:
By Your Powers Combined
Calorie Burning
A Clue?
Intermission (Maybe a "Movie" themed week? I can think of a few movie-related parody shirts...)
Saving the World, One Small Step at a Time (A robot themed week, perhaps? I know there's been plenty of those...)

And I agree with making designs available on several formats, if not all of them. I think the side-sales would be a great way to test out the option of ordering your shirt on your preferred blank. I have a feeling the Anvils are going to be awful on me based on the feedback (the AA sleeves are already long on me, and the Anvil is even longer in my size, meaning I will look like a slob, among other issues.). I don't need a million hoodies, especially when they will just be stored for the already-too-hot spring season, until fall pokes it's head out. Not a fan of totes (mostly because I have way too many from concerts and they're just too small for me). Wouldn't mind an apron (Seriously, how were there no aprons during the anthropomorphic food week?!).

I'd like to see the sales possibly extended to a bi-monthly schedule. Two weeks makes it more likely I can afford them.

What if it was more of an interactive event? Letting people nominate/vote on what designs go up for sale during the event? Kind of like a mini-derby?

Oh-- and MORE SIZES. 3x in ALL THE THINGS, please.

Okay, it looks like I can add my voice to the chorus of people saying that it would be great to have the designs printed on multiple formats.

I agree with goldenthorn that maybe a longer time/bi-monthly time period for a sale would work better. Most people I know get paid twice monthly, and it would allow time for people to grab stuff if they are stuck waiting until next paycheck. Also, it would get some exposure time for those designs. I know that more than once people have commented on a woot shirt that I have, and I was able to point them to the site where it was still available.

My Spring-a-tron also turned out a bit messed up as well, hopefully a longer run would work for this as well?

Spring is already hear, so I feel like it's getting to the end of when pull-over hoodies have a good viability, at least to me. Zip-up hoodies are good year-round because they are as good as a light coat in pinch. Why not some tank-tops? I know a few people are asking about hats, but I don't think that a good majority of the designs would hold up to being resized onto a cap.


Also, what about making all the side sale shirts available on AA blanks?

sniffles and scuffs foot

Ya know...for old times sake?